# Passing Veggies **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2000, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-veggies/41207 "2000-11-14T21:38:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-veggies/41207/1 "2000-11-14T21:38:24Z")
If vegetables are suppose to be so damn good for me, why do they pass right through me? Corn, peas, and green beans, you name it, no discernable change from start to finish. How does this, ‘do the body good’? ---
**Author:** ![zyzzyva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@zyzzyva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zyzzyva)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-veggies/41207/2 "2000-11-14T22:13:53Z")
You’re getting something from them. It’s just not enough to notice right away. Most of what vegetables have are vitamins and minerals: not exactly what fills you up, gives you more immediate energy, or tastes particularly good. A lot of them are also high in fiber, which explains the “passing” bit. If you want more protein, try soy products. For more carbo, grains (namely rice and pasta) are good. ---
**Author:** ![Suo\_Na](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@Suo\_Na](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suo_Na)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-veggies/41207/3 "2000-11-14T22:16:22Z")
Try chewing them thoroughly. Gobbling your food doesn’t help your digestive system any. ---
**Author:** ![Meephead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b782af/32.png) [@Meephead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meephead)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-veggies/41207/4 "2000-11-14T22:18:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CnoteChris \* > \*\*If vegetables are suppose to be so damn good for me, why do they pass right through me? > > Corn, peas, and green beans, you name it, no discernable change from start to finish. How does this, ‘do the body good’? > \*\* Seriously. It sounds to me liek you are not thouroughly chewing them In a case like that, you aren’t getting the full benenfit of their nutrition. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-veggies/41207/5 "2000-11-14T22:50:35Z")
It sure _seems_ like I’m chewing my food. I eat about as fast as anyone else, and I’ve never been known to be a ‘scarfer’. I guess it’s happened for so long that I thought it was normal. I thought everyone had this happen. If they pass intact, so to speak, does that mean it’s a waste of time? ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-veggies/41207/6 "2000-11-14T23:05:22Z")
“If they pass intact, so to speak, does that mean it’s a waste of time?” Just for you. People’s systems vary. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2000, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-veggies/41207/7 "2000-11-14T23:09:18Z")
Not that anyone may care, but there are certain vegetables (beyond everyone’s favorite, corn) that just go straight through. I think it’s just part of my internal chemistry. I also eat very quickly so it’s possible I’m not chewing enough. I assume that some types of fiber in vegetables can be more easily broken than others. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-veggies/41207/8 "2000-11-15T04:03:53Z")
Lots of folks have vegetables in their stool. But not all of them. The fibre is hard to absorb, heck, so is the iron in spinach, etc. But you are getting some of the theoretical benefit. Chewing more probably won’t help you. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-veggies/41207/9 "2000-11-15T04:11:35Z")
This may or may not be slightly OT You decide. When I was in India, they showed me a globular fruit about the size of a baseball (forgot what it’s called). Its rind was gray and hard. It is inedible to humans, but elephants swallow it whole. Their stomach acid dissolves out the inside through the rind. When they defecate it out, the rind is still whole – but it’s emptied. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-veggies/41207/10 "2000-11-15T06:42:15Z")
I was following you there for a moment… then I lost ya. Maybe what I need to ask is, why if my body can digest meat, can’t it handle a kernal of corn? My body digest everything but the veggies. Why? ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-veggies/41207/11 "2000-11-15T06:48:57Z")
I hate to say this, but, ahh, fill in the grammer blank as you see fit. Honest, I’m working on it. ---
**Author:** ![JavaMaven1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JavaMaven1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JavaMaven1)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-veggies/41207/12 "2000-11-15T07:27:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CnoteChris \* > \*\*I was following you there for a moment… then I lost ya. > > Maybe what I need to ask is, why if my body can digest meat, can’t it handle a kernal of corn? > > My body digest everything but the veggies. Why? \*\* Most veggies are chock-full-o’-fiber; this fiber is not as easily digested as high protein items such as a chunk of meat. Just because the vegetable itself is not thoroughly digested it does not mean that you did not get any benefit from it–fiber is necessary in the diet because it provides bulk and helps in the elimination process. This fiber is also known as cellulose. Approximately 33% of a plant’s structure is cellulose (it creates the cell structure in vegetable matter); cellulose is undigestible by humans, and it is the cellulose of your digested vegetables that you see. You have assimilated all necessary nutrients out of the vegetable, and your body has tossed out what it doesn’t need–such as those bits of corn kernels. So, your body can handle digesting a kernel of corn–all it’s doing is just taking what it needs out of it, and tossing the rest away (like what we do with a banana–we eat the inside, but toss out the peel). ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2000, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passing-veggies/41207/13 "2000-11-15T16:37:42Z")
CnoteChris, if you want to make it a science, eat veggies for two days, weigh them first. Then weigh your poop when you poop two days later. If you eat 10lbs & poop 5 lbs, you can pretty much assume your body used some of it. If you don’t want to weigh the poop, weigh yourself instead, which isn’t as accurate.